It was the general consensus last year that, after his years of years, David Clifford deserved a break from football.
That between Kerry and Fossa, he’d expended every late ounce of himself and, for a finish, that he had to be fed up with it. It would have made sense.
But in speaking with Supervalu’s #CommunityIncludesEveryone ambassador in Croke Park on Monday, above all else, the one thing you had to notice was, plain and simple, that this only loving it.
He wasn’t crying out for a break.
Jack O’Connor insisted that he sat out Kerry’s first two games in this year’s League, a clever move no doubt, but you don’t get the sense Clifford was pushing for it.
It’s almost the opposite, in fact.
Maybe it would have been different if he’d lost with Kerry and lost with Fossa but it’s as simple as this. He loves the game and everything about it. Even when he gets a break, the 24-year-old tellingly says that, out of habit almost, he spends most of that time going to club games around Kerry.
“You’re well aware that you have to take the time to relax,” Clifford says, “but it is hard. It’s hard when the season has started and you’re not out there with them. You want to be back there”
“I play a bit of golf and watch a bit of Netflix and really, I’d watch any sport. I go to watch a lot of club games anyway in Kerry as well, so I suppose that gives you a break from your own game,” he says.
“But I never feel suffocated by football.”
It gives him more hours in the day too that, unlike many of us who spend hours mindlessly scrolling through Tik Tok and Instagram, he doesn’t do social media. Never has.
“When I was younger I suppose I just never really bothered with it,” he explains.
“There wasn’t any reason for it and then I suppose it had gone so far that I was kind of, sure I was happy enough not being on it so I didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything.
“So I’m happy with my decision.”
In many ways, having trekked after his father as a youngster, when Dermot was reffing games, very little has changed.
“Dad would have reffed club games for a good few years so we would have been going all around the county with him to be fair. That’s probably where out introduction came from.
“Our parents always went to the Kerry games too, and we tagged along.”
Football. Football. Football. Dermot is the chairman of the Fossa club and it’s clear that, for all the adulation and celebrity-cult status surrounding his sons, none of it is wasted on them. They appreciate it all.
That’s why, between Dermot and David, they try to reply to all the letters of fan-mail that come their way.
“You’re hearing stories of maybe of people that were sick or might be sick or something like that and might have been watching the games and maybe seeing Kerry being successful and stuff like that might have helped them along.
“So it’s great to see stuff like that, so I suppose, myself and my father, we’d try and write back to as many of them as we possibly can.”
“It’s probably changed now from, like, I don’t think there’s as many people writing letters anymore, so a lot of it tends to be like school projects and stuff like that where they’re writing.
“Do you know when you used to have to learn how to write a letter and stuff like that, so you’d be the person they’d choose maybe.
Ógie Clifford is more into John Deeres and farming than football at the minute, and his father David isn't one bit worried about that 🚜 pic.twitter.com/xTJI4Kz60i
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) April 25, 2023
“The post-man is busy alright yeah,” he laughs.
You can listen to the full GAA Hour interview from 53 minutes below.
